


The ties that bind us makes us stronger

by Qwerty1



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Platonic Cuddling, Post Season 2, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25706932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qwerty1/pseuds/Qwerty1
Summary: After a second round of apocalypse-preventing-work, the Hargreeves has made it back to their own time. Things are getting better, wounds are healing, but that does not mean everything is okay. Five has a nightmare about that time in the barn where his siblings very nearly lost their lifes, but Klaus is there to help him.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 6
Kudos: 162





	The ties that bind us makes us stronger

Five coughs. It´s a small, raspy sound. He is getting increasingly aware of something warm and thick trickling down his chin, coming from his mouth. Blood. That´s blood. He can taste the heavy metallic taste of it, and suddenly he is aware of the pools. Blood, pools of blood. His vision is pulsing with spots and blurriness, but that does not save him from the sight of the other bodies occupying the barn floor. This is it, it´s over. He failed. He failed the world, but more specifically he failed his siblings. No, it can´t be like this. He is not dead, not just yet, and he simply can not give up if he is still alive. He gotta save his siblings! He has to- He- He-

He can´t move. He has closed his hands into weak knuckles, but he can´t get them up above the ground. His head lolls to the side, without him having any say in it, and he involuntarily ends up staring at the bodies of all the people he can say with certainty that he loves, and the growing pools of blood these bodies lie in. It´s just like in the apocalypse, when he found their bodies, but this is also so, so much worse. He thinks he can see some of them twitching, even, in a horrific attempt to cling to life, and suddenly he wishes he would just die himself right now, he is so weak anyway, and he fears he might actually go mad if he has to lie here much longer and replay the vision of all of them falling to the floor under the violent gunfire, but in some dark, horrific irony he finds himself clinging to life even when he least wants it. It´s all over, nothing else matters, not if he can´t be with his family.

Suddenly, the dull ringing in his ears morphs into a voice, and then words. Wait, that´s his name.  
“Five! Hey, Five, can you hear me buddy?”  
And he knows that voice! But that´s too impossible even for someone like him, cause the person whose voice that is is over there on the floor, violently bleeding, no longer moving or breathing. He is dead. Somehow, a sob forces itself out of his bleeding mouth.  
“No, no, hey it´s okay. Five. Five, wake up. C´mon, buddy, wake up, it´s alright. Come on, come back to me, come on there you go you are safe-”

Five sucks in a long, sharp, frantic breath, as if finally resurfacing after being held underwater for too long. His hair sticks to the thick layer of sweat across his forehead, and his hands immediately go to his chest and stomach to check for bullet holes underneath his sweat soaked, Academy standard pyjama shirt. Finding none, he feels his mind slowly returning from the nightmare to the present reality. So much so that he suddenly aware of the presence of someone else. Klaus is sitting in front of him on his bed, his new, longer hair style framing in the super concerned look on his face.  
“There you are, buddy. Everything is fine, see?”  
Not trusting his voice yet, Five simply lifts a hand and presses a quivering palm against his brother´s chest. Finding no wounds there either, just very healthy vital signs, relief overpowers him like a tidal wave, and he launches himself right into Klaus´ embrace with another, but happier, sob.

Klaus catches him in his arms, wrapping him up in one of those warm, safe hugs you just want to stay in forever, and Five only leans closer in an attempt to banish the left-over panic from the dream. Klaus rubs his back, hushing him gently.  
“It´s okay, Five, everything is okay. Breath, okay? There you go, old man, there you go. You got this, okay? You got this. You´re not alone anymore, none of us are. We´ve all got each other´s backs, remember?”  
Five draws a long, shuddering breath, body no longer quivering super bad but hands still clinging to the back of Klaus´ shirt. His face is pressed into Klaus´ shoulder, and he needs to lift his head a little in order to be heard when he speaks next.  
“Y-yeah, I j-just...”, he manages to get out, this time tucking his head underneath Klaus´ chin.  
“The apocalypse?” Klaus whispers.

No. No, but still yes. One apocalypse, in a way, but perhaps not THE apocalypse. The whole world didn´t end, but Five´s world nearly did. This entire thing is so messed up. He tries to breath the best he can through the tears, trying to think about anything else than the image of Klaus´ lifeless body in that pile of blood. He has told his siblings more about his experience when he was stuck in the post-apocalyptic world, but this is something he really does not know how to say. Not without completely freaking Klaus out, and since he himself is already freaking out that would not help this situation in the slightest. So he just nods.  
“You can say that, yes”, he says in a sharp gasp.

Klaus, fortunately, does not request any further explanation. Five is getting increasingly aware of how he probably shouldn´t be this god damn clingy, being an former assassin as well as the oldest of all their siblings, but he also really does not want to be alone right now. Klaus, by some miracle, seems to understand that, cause Five can feel his younger-but-taller guiding the two of them so they are laying down on the bed together, Five on the side against the wall and Klaus wrapped around him in a way that makes him feel so incredibly safe he is nearly ashamed to admit it. He is a killer, for God´s sake, he should not require such a thing as cuddles just to feel safe! Still, the last thing he wants to do is leave, so he instead presses his face into Klaus´ shirt, focusing on his breathing. Klaus cards his fingers through his hair, and at that contact another wave of calm rushes through him.

“You all died back at the barn, in the farm where Vanya worked. The Handler shot all of you, just like that. A stupid, stupid, meaningless way to go. And I watched it happen. She got me too”, Five whispers, in a way that will allow him to share his fears without revealing it was really more than a dream.  
Klaus only hugs him closer, which really shouldn´t be possible cause they are already so close.  
“That… That sounds absolutely horrific”, Klaus says finally.  
“You have no idea”, Five replies bitterly.  
A moment of silence passes, and Five can honestly say it´s a nice moment. He might as well let himself be hugged, since he can´t seem to shake how nice it feels. Someday he supposes he should tell the truth, explain that his siblings once again owes their survival to him, but for now he really wants to think about anything but that.

For now, he just wants to let himself be cuddled and comforted, to enjoy this moment of complete and utter safety.


End file.
